The transition to winter

One of the goals I had when I started to write this blog was to chronicle the changes that happen from season to season.  Something that I could look back on and remember things like when was the first snowfall of the season, when did I see migrating swans for the first time in the fall or when did I hear the first turkey gobble in the spring.  I was pretty good about keeping up with the changes in the garden over the summer, but the rest has gone by the wayside.  I guess a busy life is the only thing I have to blame.

I suppose what triggered all this was that I shut off the water to the barn today and drained the water line.  December 2nd seems late to be doing that, but since I've never kept track of such things, I guess I really don't know.  I do know that we have only had a few inches of snow a couple times which is highly unusual for us.  All it is going to take though is a simple shift of the wind.  As I type this, Buffalo, NY is working on their third foot of snow in the past day.  If the winds across Lake Erie shifted just a bit, that could be here.  It will be here.  It's just not here yet.

Mike has been busy with winter projects.  He is continuing to do research to put up a second high tunnel in order to be able to start some plants early and continue later in the season.  He really needs a front end loader and has been doing a lot of shopping around to get the best deal he can.  Next week is the vegetable growers convention in Grand Rapids, MI and Mike will be attending that show once again.  More seed catalogs have been showing up in the mail.  There is lots to do in the winter.  It just does not need done with the same urgency that seems to go along with summer jobs.

The picture above is one I took while out in our woods yesterday.  Two days ago we got a boat load of rain and then overnight it turned to snow.  Our land is pancake flat and our soils are poorly drained.  The woods were covered in standing water.  I often think about the ground dwelling animals at times like this.  It must be quite the hardship for the rabbits and the groundhogs and such.  There are small havens of higher drier ground scattered about.  I wonder if they all gather together and tolerate each others presence during such tough times.

I did see a good sized flock of turkeys while I was out.  I had been seeing hen/poult groups of around 10-12 birds, but this flock was larger.  I wasn't in a position to get a good count though, but I'll bet the smaller hen/poult flocks are starting to come together to make the larger winter flock that will stay together until breeding season starts in the spring.

This week is deer gun season in Ohio and Mike and I have been out a little bit trying to refill our venison supply that was lost during our the death of our chest freezer this past summer.  Deer sightings have been few and far between though.  The fall of 2010 has been marked by one of the best mast crops in recent memory.  It has really changed where and when deer are feeding and moving.  Good for them and really for all the critters that feed on acorns and other nuts. 

And about the swans...... well it was two weekends ago that I first started to see the large flocks migrating.  There is something so beautifully distinctive about hearing a flock of swans approaching from a distance and getting closer and closer until the sky above is graced with large silver white wings.  This is nature telling us that winter is here.